I ride a bike and use Public-transport, a car would be 'nice', but, not for me,...they're too expensive in a lot of ways. IMO
On Jun 1, 8:16 am, "Bill Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote: > Goodbye, GM > by Michael Moore > > June 1, 2009 > > I write this on the morning of the end of the once-mighty General Motors. By > high noon, the President of the United States will have made it official: > General Motors, as we know it, has been totaled. > > As I sit here in GM's birthplace, Flint, Michigan, I am surrounded by friends > and family who are filled with anxiety about what will happen to them and to > the town. Forty percent of the homes and businesses in the city have been > abandoned. Imagine what it would be like if you lived in a city where almost > every other house is empty. What would be your state of mind? > > It is with sad irony that the company which invented "planned obsolescence" > -- the decision to build cars that would fall apart after a few years so that > the customer would then have to buy a new one -- has now made itself > obsolete. It refused to build automobiles that the public wanted, cars that > got great gas mileage, were as safe as they could be, and were exceedingly > comfortable to drive. Oh -- and that wouldn't start falling apart after two > years. GM stubbornly fought environmental and safety regulations. Its > executives arrogantly ignored the "inferior" Japanese and German cars, cars > which would become the gold standard for automobile buyers. And it was > hell-bent on punishing its unionized workforce, lopping off thousands of > workers for no good reason other than to "improve" the short-term bottom line > of the corporation. Beginning in the 1980s, when GM was posting record > profits, it moved countless jobs to Mexico and elsewhere, thus destroying the > lives of tens of thousands of hard-working Americans. The glaring stupidity > of this policy was that, when they eliminated the income of so many middle > class families, who did they think was going to be able to afford to buy > their cars? History will record this blunder in the same way it now writes > about the French building the Maginot Line or how the Romans cluelessly > poisoned their own water system with lethal lead in its pipes. > > So here we are at the deathbed of General Motors. The company's body not yet > cold, and I find myself filled with -- dare I say it -- joy. It is not the > joy of revenge against a corporation that ruined my hometown and brought > misery, divorce, alcoholism, homelessness, physical and mental debilitation, > and drug addiction to the people I grew up with. Nor do I, obviously, claim > any joy in knowing that 21,000 more GM workers will be told that they, too, > are without a job. > > But you and I and the rest of America now own a car company! I know, I know > -- who on earth wants to run a car company? Who among us wants $50 billion of > our tax dollars thrown down the rat hole of still trying to save GM? Let's be > clear about this: The only way to save GM is to kill GM. Saving our precious > industrial infrastructure, though, is another matter and must be a top > priority. If we allow the shutting down and tearing down of our auto plants, > we will sorely wish we still had them when we realize that those factories > could have built the alternative energy systems we now desperately need. And > when we realize that the best way to transport ourselves is on light rail and > bullet trains and cleaner buses, how will we do this if we've allowed our > industrial capacity and its skilled workforce to disappear? > > Thus, as GM is "reorganized" by the federal government and the bankruptcy > court, here is the plan I am asking President Obama to implement for the good > of the workers, the GM communities, and the nation as a whole. Twenty years > ago when I made "Roger & Me," I tried to warn people about what was ahead for > General Motors. Had the power structure and the punditocracy listened, maybe > much of this could have been avoided. Based on my track record, I request an > honest and sincere consideration of the following suggestions: > > 1. Just as President Roosevelt did after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the > President must tell the nation that we are at war and we must immediately > convert our auto factories to factories that build mass transit vehicles and > alternative energy devices. Within months in Flint in 1942, GM halted all car > production and immediately used the assembly lines to build planes, tanks and > machine guns. The conversion took no time at all. Everyone pitched in. The > fascists were defeated. > > We are now in a different kind of war -- a war that we have conducted against > the ecosystem and has been conducted by our very own corporate leaders. This > current war has two fronts. One is headquartered in Detroit. The products > built in the factories of GM, Ford and Chrysler are some of the greatest > weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming and the melting of > our polar icecaps. The things we call "cars" may have been fun to drive, but > they are like a million daggers into the heart of Mother Nature. To continue > to build them would only lead to the ruin of our species and much of the > planet. > > The other front in this war is being waged by the oil companies against you > and me. They are committed to fleecing us whenever they can, and they have > been reckless stewards of the finite amount of oil that is located under the > surface of the earth. They know they are sucking it bone dry. And like the > lumber tycoons of the early 20th century who didn't give a damn about future > generations as they tore down every forest they could get their hands on, > these oil barons are not telling the public what they know to be true -- that > there are only a few more decades of useable oil on this planet. And as the > end days of oil approach us, get ready for some very desperate people willing > to kill and be killed just to get their hands on a gallon can of gasoline. > > President Obama, now that he has taken control of GM, needs to convert the > factories to new and needed uses immediately. > > 2. Don't put another $30 billion into the coffers of GM to build cars. > Instead, use that money to keep the current workforce -- and most of those > who have been laid off -- employed so that they can build the new modes of > 21st century transportation. Let them start the conversion work now. > > 3. Announce that we will have bullet trains criss-crossing this country in > the next five years. Japan is celebrating the 45th anniversary of its first > bullet train this year. Now they have dozens of them. Average speed: 165 mph. > Average time a train is late: under 30 seconds. They have had these high > speed trains for nearly five decades -- and we don't even have one! The fact > that the technology already exists for us to go from New York to L.A. in 17 > hours by train, and that we haven't used it, is criminal Let's hire the > unemployed to build the new high speed lines all over the country. Chicago to > Detroit in less than two hours. Miami to DC in under 7 hours. Denver to > Dallas in five and a half. This can be done and done now. > > 4. Initiate a program to put light rail mass transit lines in all our large > and medium-sized cities. Build those trains in the GM factories. And hire > local people everywhere to install and run this system. > > 5. For people in rural areas not served by the train lines, have the GM > plants produce energy efficient clean buses. > > 6. For the time being, have some factories build hybrid or all-electric cars > (and batteries). It will take a few years for people to get used to the new > ways to transport ourselves, so if we're going to have automobiles, let's > have kinder, gentler ones. We can be building these next month (do not > believe anyone who tells you it will take years to retool the factories -- > that simply isn't true). > > 7. Transform some of the empty GM factories to facilities that build > windmills, solar panels and other means of alternate forms of energy. We need > tens of millions of solar panels right now. And there is an eager and skilled > workforce who can build them. > > 8. Provide tax incentives for those who travel by hybrid car or bus or train. > Also, credits for those who convert their home to alternative energy > > 9. To help pay for this, impose a two-dollar tax on every gallon of gasoline. > This will get people to switch to more energy saving cars or to use the new > rail lines and rail cars the former autoworkers have built for them. > > Well, that's a start. Please, please, please don't save GM so that a smaller > version of it will simply do nothing more than build Chevys or Cadillacs. > This is not a long-term solution. Don't throw bad money into a company whose > tailpipe is malfunctioning, causing a strange odor to fill the car. > > 100 years ago this year, the founders of General Motors convinced the world > to give up their horses and saddles and buggy whips to try a new form of > transportation. Now it is time for us to say goodbye to the internal > combustion engine. It seemed to serve us well for so long. We enjoyed the car > hops at the A&W. We made out in the front -- and the back -- seat. We watched > movies on large outdoor screens, went to the races at NASCAR tracks across > the country, and saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time through the window > down Hwy. 1. And now it's over. It's a new day and a new century. The > President -- and the UAW -- must seize this moment and create a big batch of > lemonade from this very sour and sad lemon. > > Yesterday, the last surviving person from the Titanic disaster passed away. > She escaped certain death that night and went on to live another 97 years. > > So can we survive our own Titanic in all the Flint Michigans of this country. > 60% of GM is ours. I think we can do a better job. > > Yours, > Michael Moore > [email protected] > MichaelMoore.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WebTV Dawgs/Dittos" group. 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